The Name Above All Names

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES

Acts 19:13-20

13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15[One day] the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. 17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.   20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

NIV

These evil spirits are a threat to those who are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Even though these Jews might have been believers because they were using the name of Jesus in an effort to drive out evil spirits who possessed people, it does not mean they were filled with the power of God. In fact, it is pretty obvious by the response by the evil spirits that they knew Jesus and they knew about Paul, but they did not know or recognize them, which to us indicates these seven sons of Sceva did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, for if they had, those evil spirits would have known the Spirit who was within them and would have obeyed their commands. On a personal note we know this to be true as years ago, after being saved and filled with the Spirit, I, along with a fellow believer, at the Chicagoland Teen Challenge, encountered a young and possessed by an evil spirit. After praying briefly, because the need was immediate, we commanded this evil spirit to leave this young man in the name of Jesus.  After some convulsing and this young man being thrown to the floor, the spirit departed to where we did not know, but the young man was set free, praise God. I have not experienced that since, but I know without a doubt the evil spirit knew the Spirit who was within Paul and me and thus obeyed the name of Jesus. These sons of Sceva had the beating of their lives. This brought about such fear in Ephesus that now they held the name of Jesus in high honor, which indicates to us that they must not have held the name of Jesus in that much honor before this incident. Once again, we are reminded of our early life as we see how those who practiced sorcery burned their scrolls in public. Again, on a personal note, before I was saved I have books about yoga and about the guru that I held in high esteem. As I remember, there were also some records, and music that was not appropriate for us to have and I took them and threw them into a 55-gallon drum, which was our trash barrel in the alley behind our apartment, and poured gasoline on them and burned them completely. Evil cannot reside in the presence of our Lord Jesus, and we need to always be away of casting evil aside in the name of Jesus, who we hold in the highest honor, whose name is above all names.